LinuxMCE Forums

HiI have followed the progress of LinuxMCE for a couple of years now.I am a totally noob when i comes to Linux so i have't really got in to LMCE. But now I can hold back my eager to learn how to build any more. I would like to try put up my first complete system. I'm building a new house so I can do all adjustments that's needed to totally automate!! (as much as possible) :) Will use about 30 X10 devices. [DIN sockets] to start with. I got me a full hight Rittal Rack, were I can put all the gears. ::)

So I finally will start to build my 1st Coreserver. Now would I need you gurus to give me some advices and input how to build an Ultimate core server!

That will work, HOWEVER!!! DO NOT use ATI For Graphics for the MDs. your better off using NVIDIA!

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Is it possible to integrate FreeNAS in LinuxMCE?And then from the ESXI server run the virtual disks at the core server? Or maybe it's better to have a separate storage server/solution?

I would recommend a second rackmount case with a couple of hard drives and freenas thrown on that, in FREENas, setup SMB access and configure your shares in freenas web admin... LinuxMCE Will detect it and set it up

First up, why all the virualization? More complexity! Also, what's with the "one server for 1 wire" for?

NAS allows you to store your media remotely, should you wish. This could be, for example, for fault-tolerance or network performance. You can equally put your storeage in the core. If you virtualize, you have all your "eggs in one basket" anyway, so why bother?

the reason that I choosed a standalone server for 1wire was simply tha tit was not supported by linuxMCE and that I don't want to put all eggs in on basket ::)Plan to build a massive 1wire system that feed an database. So if I need to take down the core server will I loose data from the 1wire micro lan.

Think I put all disks in the esx server and make a share on that server.

Do you mean 1-wire like http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/1-wire/ (http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/1-wire/)? What the heck are doing with a 1 wire "micro lan"? Sounds very nerdy and very interesting...

Linux does support 1-wire but I don't know about LMCE. http://owfs.org/ (http://owfs.org/)

- NAS running Opensolaris on an Atom 330 and has 4 x 1,5TB drives. Here i setup all the CIFS-Shares, Exports or iSCSI-LUNs as needed.- One Core-Server- And one ESXi

I am also going to use 1-Wire but i think i'll connect it to the Core. But this has to wait until my flat has been finished and then i will have enough time for that.You can also have a look at http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=9814.0

1-wire is a very well established, resilient, and scalable standard for networking sensors. I have a weather station (http://www.audon.co.uk/1-wire_weather.html) and some temperature sensors, a humidity sensor, and a pressure sensor. This (http://www.audon.co.uk/1wire_humidity.html) shows you how to put together a network.

The sensors require a very simple wiring (I use 1 cat5) topology, are individually addressable, and are cheap enough to dot them around where you need them (monitor temperatures in server cabinet, humidity in bathrooms, temperatures in rooms, etc.). A lot of people use them for environmental monitoring in gardens (for greenhouses and the suchlike), to trigger remote watering of plants, and there is significant usage of weather stations (they work out amongst the cheapest options for integrating with computer systems).

Because of the simplicity of the wiring scheme it's very easy to add additional sensors. Combined with an optical coupler (to reduce potential damage to connected computers) they are a very flexible and resilient method of dispersed environmental monitoring.

I know that they are not well integrated with LinucMCE. That's one of the areas I will be looking at when I have my system up and running. Initially I'm using an NSLU2 to log data and hopefully it's just a question of querying the database log from LinuxMCE.

My server building project have been halted because I can't find any PSU fint my chassi. Need one where the air can pass through the PSU. [From the side with the modulare cables are to the backside. Have a look at pic to undersand how the air passes through the chassi.]http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/rm2-4u_p4.jpg (http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/rm2-4u_p4.jpg)Need to have a meshed PSU or a dual 80mm fans PSU. Seams that the have disappeared from the market. >:(

My server building project have been halted because I can't find any PSU fint my chassi. Need one where the air can pass through the PSU. [From the side with the modulare cables are to the backside. Have a look at pic to undersand how the air passes through the chassi.]http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/rm2-4u_p4.jpg (http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/rm2-4u_p4.jpg)Need to have a meshed PSU or a dual 80mm fans PSU. Seams that the have disappeared from the market. >:(

Looks like your chassi, route the cooling from the bottom of the chassi, up trough PCU and exit at the rear. This will minimise heat emission from the PSU to the system itself. This could be a plus or bad thing, resting on the settup for the rest of the cabinet, airflow etc. If you have room for a couple of 120mm fans in front, it would do good.

I would requmend Seasonic for server/mediaPC, due to low noice(using 120mm fan that runs on less than 1000rpm). I use 2 at 350W and one that is 380W. On system that are low on wattage, like core2 duo E-series etc, they do a great job. There is also a 430w unit, if you have like 4xhdd in raid/lots of tuner card etc. Look here http://www.seasonic.com/product/pc_retail.jsp (http://www.seasonic.com/product/pc_retail.jsp) and http://cgi.ebay.com/Seasonic-S12-II-SS-380GB-380W-ATX12V-Power-Supply-/320513441863?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item4aa0170047 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Seasonic-S12-II-SS-380GB-380W-ATX12V-Power-Supply-/320513441863?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item4aa0170047)

These units give good stable ouput, inspite of low wattage off these unit.

Go for aS12-II units, I am currently using the 380W unit like in the link....

Got some new gadget to my new LinuxMCE system!Manage to get a cheapo UPS and autoloader[Powervault 120 DLT] today.

Just wonder if there is any good backup software for linux that I could use! Like retrospect? Would like to have the autoloader with the core server!Is there anyone out there that already tried it together with a core server?

micklen I don't know if this is to late but I'm using an athlon 5000 at 2.6ghz and i'm not overly happy with performance. Currently I'm only doing media on 4 mds and it's not as great as I'd like. You'll have one whole core and .3 ghz more than me but i was thinking of something in the quad core department for my next core build. Well... as long as I'm not forced to build out a new core before my wife and I start shopping for our next house (1-2 years) i will be shooting for a dual quad core setup in the 3.0ghz department. I plan on doing the x10 through out, cameras, alarm, and a md in every room so I want something beefy. My core now is okay for a general end user, someone with a small amount of mds not looking to get to fancy. I don't know if this is normal but adding a md is like a major system change that usually requires me to restart the core and A quick reload isn't always quick. Boot time for the mds and core is also pretty long, about 5 mins for the core. You sound like a geek like me, you may want something beefier like me.

Also if I were you i wouldn't put my core and nas on the same server, lmce, windows, or whatever that is never a good idea. The core is a server and you usually don't want your server doing a hundred different things when it doesn't have to. When I first setup my core I had a weak moment and the thought crossed my mind. That was before i did my first file transfer while watching a movie. The video was playing from the hd in the core then i started copying a different movie to the core to watch next. The one i was watching started skipping the second i started the transfer and this was at lan speeds on a full gig network. I've used freenas and it's not my number one choice but it's better than dumping files directly on the core. You have a full rack, get a 4 or 5 U case and start your nas with that. Eventually you'll run out of space but with a dedicated 4U nas you can add more drives and raid controllers as needed. This would apply to your backups also, I would look for a solution that would backup lmce remotely. I like to think bigger. Why backup just lmce when you can backup everything on your network, do you really want your core backing up every computer on your network? I don't think so .

Don’t virtualize anything!! I’m all for virtualization, I have a dedicated vmware server on my network but I wouldn’t use it here. Your Nas is going to use a decent amount of cpu time, it will create a lot of IO and network traffic. I have not gotten around to checking yet but I’d be shocked if the core didn’t use a decent amount of ram and I’m sure it’s generating a fair share of IO and network traffic. Your 3 cores won’t be enough to power the core, nas and what ever else you have on there… well not to my standards anyway, if you’re cool with it run with it. I hate waiting on computers; I feel that we’re too far along for that. Now I don’t know you, if you have the resources to drop $5k-$10K on a server that can handle virtualizing a nas device do it, we all need to do our part in protecting the environment. I personally don’t care much about the electric bill (my network is more important) and I help the environment in other ways so I have dedicated servers. On that note I have 6 physical servers running 24/7 plus at any given time there is usually a light on some where in my house (my wife and I suck at conserving power) and the electric bill is only around $150-175 per month. I don’t think that’s a bad price at all especially since all power saving and efficiency settings on the servers are turned off.

That’s my 2 cents; I wish some one told me what I just told you before I bought my core. It was between the one I have and a quad core but I read the wiki which said a p4 or something and I figured the AMD 5000 would be enough. I really think the requirements in the wiki needs to be adjusted. I don't understand how you can run this thing on a p3!!

micklen I don't know if this is to late but I'm using an athlon 5000 at 2.6ghz and i'm not overly happy with performance. Currently I'm only doing media on 4 mds and it's not as great as I'd like. You'll have one whole core and .3 ghz more than me but i was thinking of something in the quad core department for my next core build. Well... as long as I'm not forced to build out a new core before my wife and I start shopping for our next house (1-2 years) i will be shooting for a dual quad core setup in the 3.0ghz department. I plan on doing the x10 through out, cameras, alarm, and a md in every room so I want something beefy. My core now is okay for a general end user, someone with a small amount of mds not looking to get to fancy. I don't know if this is normal but adding a md is like a major system change that usually requires me to restart the core and A quick reload isn't always quick. Boot time for the mds and core is also pretty long, about 5 mins for the core. You sound like a geek like me, you may want something beefier like me.

Also if I were you i wouldn't put my core and nas on the same server, lmce, windows, or whatever that is never a good idea. The core is a server and you usually don't want your server doing a hundred different things when it doesn't have to. When I first setup my core I had a weak moment and the thought crossed my mind. That was before i did my first file transfer while watching a movie. The video was playing from the hd in the core then i started copying a different movie to the core to watch next. The one i was watching started skipping the second i started the transfer and this was at lan speeds on a full gig network. I've used freenas and it's not my number one choice but it's better than dumping files directly on the core. You have a full rack, get a 4 or 5 U case and start your nas with that. Eventually you'll run out of space but with a dedicated 4U nas you can add more drives and raid controllers as needed. This would apply to your backups also, I would look for a solution that would backup lmce remotely. I like to think bigger. Why backup just lmce when you can backup everything on your network, do you really want your core backing up every computer on your network? I don't think so .

Don’t virtualize anything!! I’m all for virtualization, I have a dedicated vmware server on my network but I wouldn’t use it here. Your Nas is going to use a decent amount of cpu time, it will create a lot of IO and network traffic. I have not gotten around to checking yet but I’d be shocked if the core didn’t use a decent amount of ram and I’m sure it’s generating a fair share of IO and network traffic. Your 3 cores won’t be enough to power the core, nas and what ever else you have on there… well not to my standards anyway, if you’re cool with it run with it. I hate waiting on computers; I feel that we’re too far along for that. Now I don’t know you, if you have the resources to drop $5k-$10K on a server that can handle virtualizing a nas device do it, we all need to do our part in protecting the environment. I personally don’t care much about the electric bill (my network is more important) and I help the environment in other ways so I have dedicated servers. On that note I have 6 physical servers running 24/7 plus at any given time there is usually a light on some where in my house (my wife and I suck at conserving power) and the electric bill is only around $150-175 per month. I don’t think that’s a bad price at all especially since all power saving and efficiency settings on the servers are turned off.

That’s my 2 cents; I wish some one told me what I just told you before I bought my core. It was between the one I have and a quad core but I read the wiki which said a p4 or something and I figured the AMD 5000 would be enough. I really think the requirements in the wiki needs to be adjusted. I don't understand how you can run this thing on a p3!!

Thanx klovell for the replay!Think it's the longest replay I ever got in a forum!!!Got your point, to have a smooth running system when you running media applications you need at storage solution that meet your expectations regarding performance/latencies. Flicking movies and long start times is not anything that I wish.

What you also underlined is that got NAS performance needs a lot of CPU!Hopefully will I unlock the forth core on my 3x core cpu. But come on.. 4x 2.MHz... wouldn't that be enough ? For the core server! I would lie to be able to stream to at least 4 MD at the same time.But to clarify ... I plan to use my HP Proliant 150 ML as host for the virtual machines. I know it's not a speed demon. But I hope it will be enough for 2 or 3 windows servers + FreeNas. I have a 4 core 2.2 MHz AMD Opteron and 4 GBit of ram.

Please advice and share your experience !

Btw I have trouble to get in the gadgets in the rack cabinet. I got 80cm (31.5") and the dell keyboard drawer I got is for a 90/100 deep server rack. Anyone that know where to get rack bits 'n' pieces?

Sorry, I'm a talker. It sometimes comes out in my writing, I write like I talk.

I wasn't necessarily saying a nas uses allot of cpu. I was pointing out that there is a demand for cpu time when transferring files. The 20% cpu usage you'll use to stream to 4 mds could be used for something else "core" related. Example, if I'm coping files to or from my laptop i wouldn't want that to slow down a md's pxe boot or vise verse.

Honestly, as I said I have no patience for slow computing. You may like my core and i'm sure the general public may also, as a techie it sucks! I'm only serving 4 md's and I feel this way. I personally don't think x4 2.x cores is enough for tv, dvr, video, music, pictures, pxe booting, dhcp, x10 control, voip, security cameras, the different ways you can combine scenarios, plus around 11-15 mds. That's going to be my setup once I move since i already know how big my house will be and my wife and I have to plans to compromise. That's enough network traffic to justify a gig network with a fiber up-link to the nas. That would require at least a mid size business server to drive everything with out problems and quickly, that's why I'm shooting for 8 cores. Since you're planning 30 x10's, a watercooled 4u chassis, a full rack!!, and you're talking about iscsi, esx and building the "ultimate core" i figured you're a geek like me and would want something powerful.

Correct me if I’m wrong but that hp maxes at 8 or 12 gigs, and dual 3.0 xeons. I know I’m not to far off, there are other factors but it'll handle those vm's depending on what they’re doing but the performance would be less than great. If they’re DC or anything else with lower IO and memory requirements you’ll be fine. IDK if you have it setup or not but pm me if you want help with it. I suggest using Linux as the host os. I’m running Ubuntu server with vmware server 2. It uses 700mb at full load and barely any CPU time, Winblows would probably cache 2 gigs off the rip just because.

Sorry, I don’t do racks. I’m pretty crafty and I feel that I can always just build a suitable rack. When I order them for the business I always get extra parts and they’re always dells… one apc... dells are better. I might buy one for the new house but idk. There’s a room in the blue prints slated as the “Data center” with a raised floor, ac, fire suppression and fire proof walls and ceiling, if I’m going to do all of that I might as well buy a rack and make it all look good.